Well its been an interesting 3-4 weeks with back rehab, trying to train, trying to race and then relising the bigger picture of my goals and so on.

I headed upto Salt Lake City for my next ABA race on my calender. Things were looking up as far as my back (so I thought), and I was excited to catch up with soldier the New Zealand team physio up there to get some much needed treatment building into the weeknd. We had practise friday night and I felt ok with my back tightening up by the end of the session. I then woke up saturday morning in so much pain and struggling to even be able to sit on the toilet. I then went to the track as normal, warmed up and decided to try and push through the pain and race both days......the worst decision i think i have made since being over here so far! Not only did i race terrible, it did nothing for my confidence or help me in moving forward to where I need to be due to it blowing up again. No more to report on that one!

I then stayed up in Salt Lake for a week after the race to get treatment and diognose what was going on. After spending hours on the physio table, second opinions, and countless rehabing hours in the gym, we finnaly put our finger what was going on so things could get back on track which I was super pumped about!

I headed back to California for a weeks training and gym rehab to try and continue building where i left off before heading to Rockford, Illinois for my next stop of racing. During this week my back problems had turned for the best and it almost felt like a miracle I could do most things pain and worry free. I cant thank soldier and turfrey enough for spedning so much time with me to make this miracle happen! So willy and I then headed out on the flight to meet back up with the team in Rockford. We were greeted with some not so inviting weather thats for sure. Thunder storms and rain! Reminded me of when I lived on the gold coast of Australia and the electrical storms they used to have out there.
So after practise was done and dusted I felt pretty confident for going into racing Saturday. Woke up to thunder storms and rain delays, then the skys opened up and racing was under way. Rockfords first straight is uphill big time so the legs feel like you've squated 140kg just to get to the first turn. I cruised through motos with all top 3 finishes to advance to the semi finals. Semi gate dropped and I came out strong but got the squeeze later on down the straight into the first turn and put me back to 5th and couldnt manage to get back into fourth....day over!
Day 2 was an ealry start seems as racing was delayed the day before and we had to be up at 6 to head to the track. Practise came and went and racing started. Once again cruised through qualifying motos with top 3 finishes. Semis came around and punched out nice and strong but once again got the squeeze halfway down the straight but managed to stay in a qualifying position until I was passed and cut off down the second straight...day over once again!

Now back in California and things have got back into gear with training. I've taken alot of learnings from Rockford and am addressing those weaknesses from racing over these next 2 weeks before my last race over here in South Park, Pennsylvania. I then head back home to New Zealand for one week before heading to Australia to train and prepare for the world championships in new zeland.

all for now.......

So things are slowly starting to get better with the back which im amped about! The last week has seen some serious rehab sessions going down over here in California with the specialists, and my physios and strength and conditioning coach back home in New Zealand. Thankfully I have these guys in my corner to help in aiding me to be able to get movement back and help me getting back on the horse fast and in taking the right steps. After hitting 5 mobility sessions per day, 3 excercise sessions per day, a few jars of Ibuprofen, a jar of muscle relaxants, frequant visits to the pool, and laying on the floor and couch all day, I am finaly able to ride on the road with relativly no pain. So the next step is getting my back strong enough and ready to race at next weeknds ABA round in salt lake city, UTAH. Its been proving pretty hard to sit back and watch the weeknds racing online from back home in California knowing that i should of been there but it makes it alot easier when i remind myslef to look at the bigger picture of my journey.
In other news, was good to see the pro class band together and stand up in protest out here in the states at todays racing in nashville. If you didnt hear, ill let you do the investigation about that one :-).
stay tuned for more interesting updates when this back gets itself together.....